Photoshop Example Tutorial

I wanted to find examples of shapes students would see in their everyday lives and display them in pictures. I found this picture of construction cones and wanted to make the cone shape really stand out from the rest of the picture to show as an example for my students. The end result of this Photoshop technique is one or multiple colored objects in a photo becoming an area of interest/focus on a black and white background. I use this on school projects as well as family photos frequently. I edited this picture in Adobe Photoshop CS4 on a Mac.



Original Photo


I selected the construction cones with the Quick Selection Tool by clicking on the area I wanted selected because they are what I want in color in my final product.


When using a Mac: to add to your selection click area you would like to add, to subtract hold down the option key and then click on the area you would like to subtract until you have the exact area you want surrounded by the dashed lines. I specifically wanted the cone part of the construction cones to be my only selection.


Right click and choose Layer via Cut. Your selection will show up as a separate new layer on the bottom right hand side of your screen.


Clicking the picture of the eye so it disappears next to a specific layer will make that layer not show on the picture. I clicked on the eye next to my orange cones to make that layer not show and then I made sure to click on the picture of my background layer since that is the layer I want to adjust.


To change the background to black and white: Go to Image, Adjustments, Black and White.
Also in adjustments are tools to lighten/darken the picture or change color tone.


When this window pops up click ok.


Now if I click the box next to my cones layer to make the eye reappear, I will see bright orange cones and a black and white background.


Finally I touch up any remaining problems with the eyedropper and paintbrush. First I click on the eyedropper tool and then on a color in the picture I want to match. After I have selected my color from the picture I click on the paintbrush then click and drag to paint areas I want to cover with that color.




Here is my final product

Instructional Architect Webpage

Create your own resource webpage to share with your class and other educators! I learned about this option the other day and see many benefits for my classroom. I can put links to games that reinforce my class curriculum, lesson plan ideas for other teachers, and display what skills the my class is learning for their parents.

Make your own:
1)Go to www.ia.usu.edu and click on "I am a teacher"


2)Register yourself then sign in to the site

3)Click on the "My Resources" link

Choose "Search NSDL" to browse hundreds of lesson ideas and activities that other educators have created. When you find some you like move them to the resource folder.

4)Next choose the "My Projects" link at the top of the page. Here you can choose your color theme and graphics on your webpage.


5) Also on the "My Projects" page you can choose the link "edit content". This will take you to a page that allows you to add the resources you previously chose and add any text on your page.


6) You will see "author project" at the top of the page with the numbers one through five next to it. Click through these numbers to complete your webpage. Page five will give you a URL to your new page that you can share with teachers, students, and parents.


7) Enjoy your finished page! Here is the link to the page I created:
http://ia.usu.edu/viewproject.php?project=ia:11182

Inspiration 8

Just to expand a little on the last post...The program Inspiration 8 is a really neat tool. It's main function is creating a flow chart. It is so easy to do and can be personalized however you like it. There are a ton of graphics you can insert into the flow chart to represent ideas. My favorite function is the option to take any text on the my flow chart and hyperlink it to a webpage. I can see so many potential uses for this in my future classroom like faculty planning, brainstorming charts with my class, or using it to create a web page that has links for parents. Currently I hope to use it for the photoshop project by creating a flowchart for a 2nd grade math curriculum with links to pictures that demonstrate different concepts.

Level II web page

Today in class we learned how to make a webpage. My page lists all my classes for level II and the required assignments with links to webpages I need to access for homework. I am really excited about using this on future projects like a family history page. We made a flow chart in the program Inspiration 8 and then exported it to the web. Link to the site

Blogging

I still don't feel like a blogging pro, but I am enjoying the experience. I can see advantages and disadvantages to using a classroom blog in my future teaching career. Having a blog would allow me to share the projects and activities my class participates in through regularly updated posts. Pictures and videos of their children would be available for parents to download onto their home computers. Most parents would be able to view these posts immediately after the event. However, the negative side of using a classroom blog is that not everyone will be able to view it. Some families may not have access to computers or internet.This would create a technological divide in the classroom.

Digital Natives Approach vs. Digital Immigrants Approach to Education

I remember sitting in a human anatomy and physiology class in high school staring at a white sheet of paper that contained a black and white illustration of the internal human body. We were expected to memorize various parts of the body and their functions and label them on vague lines protruding from the illustration. My mind wandered and I found it hard to concentrate. Instead of listening to my teacher's lecture, I found myself dreaming up a realistic digital tour that would take students through the different organs and arteries as if a small camera were traveling through the human body. I wondered why such a resource hadn't been developed for education. It seemed a more logical approach to learning.
Like many of my peers I feel very dependent on technology. I am very much a "digital native". I use technology for research, socialization, and entertainment. I recognize that if a completely "digital native" approach were used in schools, students would get information quicker and in a more entertaining way.
However, I recognize the disadvantages of letting technology consume our students' lives. Exposure to technology creates the need for constant rewards and instantaneous gratification. The lure of cyberspace can create a false sense of reality, loss of social skills in the real world, and waste hours of time. It is important that we use technology wisely and with caution.
I feel that a balanced curriculum should be developed for future education. Students should be expected to learn the step-by-step logic the "old" way, but educators should use technological models to illustrate and reinforce the logic during the learning process.

Mac Conversion?

Up until this class I have been a PC girl through and through. Playing around on a Mac for this class has started me down a rather reluctant path of conversion. I am finding that the simple pleasures of adding widgets and flipping through my spaces has caused a small, forbidden Mac seed to planted. We'll just have to see what happens...